


Laid Open

by fluffninja (Luddleston)



Category: Free!
Genre: Awkward Sex, Comfort, First Time, Fluff, M/M, Nitori Tops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:42:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1219852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luddleston/pseuds/fluffninja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It was the vulnerability, Rin thought, that did it for him. "</p>
<p>Rin is bad at relationships. Maybe he just wasn't meant for them. Maybe he wants something different out of them than he thought. He's not really sure, but he's definitely just started crying, so that's a problem. Thankfully, it's a problem his roommate wants to help with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laid Open

**Author's Note:**

> I think a more accurate summary of this would be "MY HEADCANONS, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM". I also just really want a fic where Nitori tops because I think it would give him and Rin a more interesting relationship dynamic. So much of the characterization of Free! is stuff that I didn't expect, so I feel like their sex lives would follow suit. 
> 
> Also, Rin wanting to be vulnerable and be cuddled and taken care of is my poison. 
> 
> And on top of all that, I just made it as AWKWARD AS POSSIBLE.

It was the vulnerability, Rin thought, that did it for him. 

 

Because on the one hand, being completely open and honest with someone was freeing, even more so than swimming (even more than _winning_ , winning against _Haru_ , and Rin wouldn’t say that out loud if he was a thousand miles out of earshot of anyone he knew). 

 

On the other hand, it scare him shitless. 

 

Rin was bad at relationships. He liked to mentally paint himself as some sexy badboy who was always breaking hearts, but actually, he just legitimately sucked at being a boyfriend. It had been that way with the girl from his neighborhood in Australia, and the other girl he went on a few dates with at Samezuka. He quickly learned that he wasn’t meant for boyfriendom, especially when it meant he got thrown out of a girls’ dorm butt-naked in the middle of the night. 

 

And that had happened _twice_. 

 

He told himself he justdidn’t _do_ the flowers and chocolate, the pampering, the cuddling (dear god, the _cuddling_ , he’d rather shoot someone), and he’d consented himself to the occasional one-night stand when his roommate was home for the weekend, trying to ignore the fact that they never really satisfied. He wasn’t meant for commitment, he told himself. He was a free bird, a lone wolf, but then again...

 

Lone wolves didn’t exactly dissolve into puddles of tears when their roommates hugged them, now did they? Rin was going to have to rethink this whole thing.

 

In addition to not being a good boyfriend, Rin was also determinedly not gay. He knew that because he’d dealt with hanging out nude with a bunch of other guys in locker rooms for years, which was _obviously_ proof. 

 

He was going to ignore that ridiculous crush on Haru when he was twelve, because he was pretty sure the entire Iwatobi Swim Club would laugh their asses off at him if he mentioned it. (He’d rearrange that opinion too in a few months when he’d find out that Mako and Haru are doing it.)

 

So. The crying. 

 

Rin got emotional, he knew that much. He’d gone into blind rages often enough to know that he wasn’t the most levelheaded person in the universe. And he’d been just about that angry today, enough to walk into his dorm room swearing and shouting about someone doing something that pissed him off at practice today. He couldn’t even remember what it was anymore. 

 

Ai had freaked out a little bit, threw a pillow at him and told him to stop. Normally that would have been enough to drag a sigh out of him and send him grumbling off to shower and do his homework with his headphones on full blast. But today, Ai was just making things worse. 

 

And that’s when it happened.

 

“Did you just _growl_ at me?” 

 

“So what if I did!” It wasn’t even a question, Rin just yelled it, and he was almost, _almost_ sorry for whoever lived next-door. 

 

“Rin, are you okay?” 

 

It wasn’t ‘that’s weird’, or ‘shut up’, or even ‘Rin-senpai, you’re creepy!’ 

 

“No,” he grumbled, standing still in the middle of the room. 

 

Ai slowly clambered down the ladder to the floor, and took a few tentative steps towards Rin. “What’s wrong?” he asked, and Rin could feel years of frustration rising in his throat, but he didn’t know how to say it. He didn’t necessarily _want_ Ai to know what a wimp he was, but hey, it was _Ai_ , the kid who was practically invisible to the rest of the school and had a heart so golden he probably wouldn’t want to spread rumors even if someone would listen to him. 

 

He still neglected to say anything, and Ai stepped forward and put his arms around Rin’s shoulders, standing on his tiptoes so he could hold on. He started rubbing Rin’s back, and that was when the tears started leaking out. 

 

“Oh my god, Rin, what’s wrong?” Ai asked, leaning back and putting a hand on Rin’s cheek, thumbing away a few of the tears. Rin honestly just wanted to go back to burying his face in Ai’s neck. 

 

“I don’t... know,” he choked out, and Ai started taking steps backwards, but he was taking Rin with him, the hand on his cheek sliding to his shoulder and his other tugging the hem of Rin’s t-shirt sleeve to pull him along. He sat down on Rin’s bed and patted the space next to him. 

 

He stood there for a second before deciding to sit down, and flinched hard when Ai touched him the first time, lightly on his arm. “Long day?” Ai asked. 

 

Of course he would ask that. Rin, his ferocious, strong, terrifying roommate was crying, which was about as likely as a snowstorm in the middle of July, and Ai just attributed it to a long day. 

 

Rin’s only response was a muffled groan as he flopped over and put his head on Ai’s shoulder, while the smaller boy’s arm wrapped around his back. They sat there in silence for a little while, until Ai started telling Rin all about everything _he’d_ done that day. Normally the chatter would have been annoying, but Ai was quiet and his voice gave Rin something to focus on. Something other than whatever had pissed him off and trying to figure out why he _really liked_ the feeling of Ai’s hand holding his, pressing the tips of all their fingers together before massaging his knuckles and running his thumb over Rin’s. He was definitely not thinking about that. 

 

\---

 

They didn’t talk about what had happened, and Rin was grateful. He assumed things were just going to go back to normal, until stuff just kept happening. Ai would hold his hand when they walked places together, or hug him in greeting instead of just waving and saying hello. Rin wondered vaguely if Ai thought they were dating, and he was kind of nauseated at the thought of asking him. He wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to tell Ai they weren’t, or the opposite. 

 

It was a rainy Friday night and they were watching a movie in their room on Rin’s laptop because they didn’t have the DVD and hadn’t been able to hook up the TV to whatever illegal website Rin was streaming it off of. The laptop had been between them on the bed, but Ai picked it up and set it on his lap so he could move closer to Rin, who raised his eyebrows at his roommate’s behavior. 

 

Ai just gave him that damnedable knowing smile and Rin leaned across the bed to grab a pillow. He claimed he didn’t like cuddling, but what he really didn’t like about it was when someone would lay all over him. 

 

He was perfectly fine with laying all over other people. 

 

Ai didn’t respond much when Rin curled up against his side, holding the pillow and putting his head in the hollow of Ai’s shoulder. All he did was put his arm around Rin and sigh happily, his toes wiggling at the end of the bed. 

 

The movie finished, and Rin was half-asleep. Ai was doing something to his hair, but he hadn’t paid much attention until now. 

 

“Wait... are you fucking _braiding my hair_?” Rin asked. 

 

“Uh, no,” Ai said, and Rin put a hand up to his head, convinced Ai was lying. He wasn’t.

 

“Okay, good, because that would be weird.” 

 

“Why?” 

 

“What?” Rin muttered. 

 

“Why would that be weird?” 

 

Rin paused. “Uh... because we’re roommates and... yeah.” 

 

Ai went back to petting his hair and Rin curled into him a little more, hoping he didn’t notice. With the way Ai leaned over and kissed his temple, Rin was pretty sure he did. 

 

“Dude!” he yelled, sitting up and almost smacking Ai in the face with his head on the way up. “The hell!?” 

 

“Oh! Uh! I thought... sorry,” Ai said, scooting away from Rin. “I won’t any more, I just kind of thought...” 

 

That was when it hit Rin like a ton of bricks. He had a crush on Ai. He could have said something stupid and romantic like ‘oh yeah, Ai has always been there for me’, but he was pretty sure that was one: stupid and two: not exactly the reason he was feeling this way. It probably had more to do with the fact that Ai put up with all his shit and still wanted to cuddle him and braid his hair afterwards. Except he wasn’t braiding his hair. Whatever. 

 

“No...” Rin said quietly, “it’s okay.” 

 

Ai put his arms around Rin’s shoulders again, holding him gently so he could bury his head in Ai’s neck. Rin slid his hands down Ai’s sides to hold his waist and he breathed slowly, listening to the music continuing to play on the credits of the movie. “I should ask this time, right?” Ai said quietly, “I mean... um... do you want to kiss me?” 

 

“Yeah,” Rin said, untucking himself from Ai’s shoulder. He’d probably kissed a dozen people before, and he heard he was pretty good at it from a number of said participants (Haru said he was, to quote, ‘not that great’, but Rin had decided he didn’t count). 

 

That said, Rin knew what he was doing. Most of the time. 

 

Not right now. 

 

When it came to Ai, Rin was completely lost. Of course he wanted to kiss him, but how were you supposed to go about kissing someone who knew everything about you? Including the shark teeth thing. Rin was suddenly thrown back to the first time he’d ever actually kissed a girl, and how he cut her with the teeth and she cried. He didn’t think Ai would do that, but the creeping fear was there anyways. 

 

Ai closed the gap while Rin was still doing mental cartwheels, and Rin could feel himself gasp into the kiss while his hands tightened on Ai’s hips. He hauled Ai onto his lap and kissed him harder, opening his mouth and finally remembering exactly how this was supposed to go. “You have shark teeth,” Ai observed breathlessly, as though he’d never realized it before. 

 

“I bite,” Rin replied, and Ai’s face went bright red. 

 

“That... is... so, so cheesy, Rin,” Ai laughed, and Rin just stared. 

 

“Is cheesy bad?” 

 

“Of course not!” Ai practically jumped him then, bumping his nose as he straddled Rin, running his hands through his hair and gently but forcefully pulling his head back to continue in what was becoming a frantic stream of kisses. 

 

Rin would never, in a million years, describe his roommate as hot. That was normally reserved for people like his little sister’s best friend or that one chick in his math class, but having Ai’s solid weight on top of him as he leaned back on his bed, trying and failing to avoid banging his head on the frame, was probably the hottest thing ever. Rin mumbled and moaned under his breath, something that probably ended up coming out like, “Ai, _Ai, oh my god_ ,” and ran his hands up Ai’s back under his shirt. Rin forgot how muscular he was because he was so tiny, but all that swimming definitely did something for him. 

 

Ai kept kissing him, but couldn’t seem to figure out what do do about the teeth. Rin wasn’t surprised, after all, he bit his own tongue more times than he’d ever want to admit. He shifted a little, trying to spread his legs and put Ai between them, but stopped halfway through the motion when his foot nudged his laptop. “Shit, that’s gonna fall off the bed,” he groaned, but Ai had moved to kissing his neck and Rin hoped his hair was long enough to cover whatever marks Ai was probably leaving there. 

 

“What’d you say?” Ai asked, and he slid forward to meet Rin’s lips again. Ai was straddling one of Rin’s thighs now, and Rin had a full-body shiver when he discovered that Ai’s athletic shorts did little to hide the fact that he was really, _really_ hard right now. 

 

“ _Fuck me_ ,” he groaned, one hand going to palm at the tent in his sweatpants. “Wait. Shit. Fuck. That wasn’t what I was supposed to...”

 

Ai had frozen at the beginning of his sentence and sat back, staring wide-eyed at him. “Are you serious?” 

 

“Move the laptop.” 

 

“ _Rin!_ ” 

 

Rin made a kind of strangled noise at the back of his throat and tilted his head back, slapping his hand over his eyes. Yep. He’d probably just ruined everything. Ai was already crawling off him, probably going to sit at the other end of the bed and think about what the hell they had even done. Absolutely ruined. 

 

He peeked up from between his fingers, and the first thing he saw was Ai’s ass. Not helpful, Rin reminded himself. It took him a minute to realize that Ai was bending over to move the laptop from the bed to the floor. 

 

“What the...” Rin began, pushing himself up on his shoulders and watching as Ai turned around and not-so-subtly glanced down at Rin’s crotch. 

 

“Now, what were you saying?” Ai asked, and for as much of a boner-killer imagining how he’d ruined his chances with his adorable, sweet, patient, _perfect_ roommate was, Rin felt his cock jump quite obviously when Ai smiled at him and bit the corner of his lip. 

 

Rin sat up fast and grabbed Ai around the middle, one hand cupping the back of his head as he started kissing him again. There was a little thump and the scattering of a lot of blankets as they fell backwards. Rin delivered on his promise and nipped at Ai’s lower lip. He worried for a second that it had hurt (because of the gasp, of course), but Ai started shoving Rin’s shirt up and whispered things like, _“Rin, Rin, do that more,”_ and, _“that feels so good,”_ and finally, _“tell me what you want, baby.”_

 

“Baby?” 

 

Ai looked to the side, biting his lip again. “Sorry.” 

 

Rin shook his head. “I kinda like it.” He finished squirming out of his shirt and Ai reached behind his head and pulled his own off. 

 

Pants were harder to remove than shirts, and there was a momentary struggle as Ai tried to pull his shorts off while he was still sitting on Rin’s lap. He got them past his crotch and Rin thought that was good enough, so he did the same to his own and pulled Ai closer to him, pretty sure there were literal sparks somewhere behind his eyes as they rubbed up against each other for the first time. And everything was worth it to hear Ai whisper _“fuck”_ all long and drawn out under his breath. It was absolutely filthy coming from someone as cute as him, with his pouty lips (especially so after so much kissing) and his fluffy halo of silvery hair and his big blue eyes. 

 

Rin wanted to get him to say it more.

 

Ai’s hands were on his shoulders though, holding him away when he tried to move forward and continue kissing him. “Slow down,” he panted, “hold on.” 

 

“What?” Rin asked, leaning back on his shoulders and looking up at Ai, who was flushing from his ears all the way down his neck and chest. Rin couldn’t imagine he was in a much better state himself. 

 

“What was that you said about... you know...” 

 

Rin sat up and ran his hands along the smaller boy’s thighs, squeezing him gently. “I... I want you in me,” he said, and the only thing he was certain of was that he sounded not-quite-sure about it. 

 

Ai squeaked and looked more uncertain than he had the whole night. “I’ve never done that before,” he said, the words all coming out in a rush, like they were strung together into one. 

 

“It’s okay,” Rin began, pausing to take a breath and collect his thoughts, “it’s okay if you don’t want to. And if you do. And if you’ve never done it before. Dammit. Ai.” He was so very bad with words, and he was mentally lamenting it so much he was barely hard anymore and _that_ was embarrassing and he was even redder than he had been when Ai was talking dirty to him. 

 

Ai kissed him slowly, gently, almost like it was the first time again, smoothing his hands down Rin’s shoulders and the back of his neck. Rin clung to his thighs a little harder and nuzzled into his neck and they sat there for a moment, with Ai’s arms wrapped loosely around him and his chin resting on Rin’s shoulder. Rin was just about to suggest they call it a night and go to sleep (and probably cuddle more), when Ai whispered, “okay.” 

 

“Huh?” 

 

“I want to do it,” Ai said, holding him a little tighter, “if you still want to.” 

 

“Hell yes,” Rin breathed. 

 

Ai squirmed on Rin’s lap and bit his lip, and Rin definitely felt himself getting back in the mood. “I, um, don’t have lube,” Ai said, and Rin shifted, trying to get out from under him and realizing that his sweatpants being awkwardly half-on was going to make that difficult. 

 

“I do, let me get it,” he said, and Ai got off him while he went to the bathroom. He considered dropping his sweatpants, but pulled them back on instead because how ridiculous was it to walk around the room with his dick out? The answer was very. Rin dug into the back of his side of the bathroom cabinet and pulled out the bottle, which had fallen onto its side a while ago, yanking one of the towels off the rack for good measure. Thankfully, Rin also knew where Ai hid that box of condoms he got once for some unknown reason (Rin never knew of Ai dating anyone or actually having any sex at all). He checked the expiration date just in case before tugging one of them out and heading back into the room. 

 

“I was wondering when you’d come back,” Ai said upon his return. He had taken his shorts and briefs off and was sitting on the bed with his knees tucked into his chest. 

 

“Yeah, I had to find your condoms,” Rin said, and Ai stared at him, eyes wide. 

 

“How...?” 

 

“Dude, you’re not very sneaky,” Rin said, dropping the supplies on the bed and bending over to kiss Ai. Ai’s hands reached for the hem of Rin’s sweatpants, dipping below it and tugging them down. Rin stepped out of them and knelt on the bed in front of Ai, still kissing him while Ai reached down between his legs and started stroking him. Rin wanted to sit on Ai’s lap, but was kind of worried he was going to accidentally squish him, he was so tiny. 

 

Ai was just pulling him closer though, hands on the back of his thighs and slowly sliding up until he was cupping Rin’s ass and touching him like he’d wanted to for ages. And Rin was pretty sure his own touches were the same, as he clung to Ai’s shoulders and rubbed his chest where he was still flushed. “Rin, I’ve never actually... you know... done this before,” Ai admitted, fumbling around on the bed for the lube while his other hand traced down Rin’s abs. 

 

“It’s fine,” Rin said, feeling like he might have been a little too curt, and he pressed another kiss against Ai’s lips before taking the bottle from him. Rin wasn’t exactly the expert in this area, but he knew the basic principle of the thing (although he knew full well how being all theory and no action didn’t work out well for anyone, because he was acquainted with Rei Ryuugazaki). He sat back on his thighs, watching Ai squirm while he uncapped the lube and squeezed some of it on his hand. Rin wasn’t one of those people who always played music while he was having sex, but he could understand why someone would, because lube bottles making obnoxious wheezing noises was not sexy. The way Ai’s breathing got heavier as he watched Rin spread it over his fingers before sinking his pinky into himself. 

 

Ai surged forward and threw his arms around Rin’s shoulders, kissing him again. They came together sloppily for less than a minute before Rin broke the kiss and put his forehead against Ai’s. “Hey, I need to concentrate,” he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out as he added another finger. 

 

“That’s just... _so_ hot,” Ai said, biting his lip again and nudging Rin’s ankle with his toes. “God, you should see your face,” he breathed. 

 

“Look who’s talking.” Rin’s voice was low and the stretch was nice, but nothing he hadn’t done before. He wanted more, he wanted Ai. 

 

He removed his hand and wiped it on the towel, then started kissing Ai’s neck again, trying hard not to leave marks because that would make swim practice awkward the next day. He wouldn’t mind Ai marking up his legs where his swimsuit would cover, though. Ai gently tipped him back onto the bed, cupping his head this time so he didn’t hit it on the ladder. Ai bent down and kissed his chest, right over his heart. Rin would have joked that it was a silly romantic motion, but he was actually kind of touched. 

 

“Rin?” Ai’s voice hiked up in pitch like he was nervous. 

 

“Yeah?” 

 

Ai nudged the condom package into Rin’s hand. “I... um... I can’t open it, my hands are shaking and I’m kind of sweaty, so...” 

 

Rin chuckled and Ai’s brow furrowed. “It’s not funny!” 

 

“It’s a little funny.”

 

“ _Fine_ , just open it, I really want to do this,” Ai said, bending his head down again and kissing him again, this time tracing down the line of his abs. Rin’s cock bumped up against the underside of Ai’s chin and he hissed out a breath through his teeth and almost dropped the condom. 

 

He opened it and handed it back to Ai, and there was a moment’s more fumbling before Ai was between his legs again, just like he had been at the beginning of this whole escapade, minus the clothes. Ai bent down and kissed him on the chest again. Rin would have liked to kiss him on the lips but Ai was too short to reach them. 

 

“Are you ready?” Ai asked quietly. 

 

“Fuck yes,” Rin breathed, and the slide in was so gentle and slow and sweet but burning, sticky hot that he almost came right there. Instead, he moaned, tossing his head back on the sheets and reaching up to hold onto Ai’s shoulders. 

 

He heard Ai echo his moan above him, but breathier, higher, and Rin was pretty sure it included his name somewhere in it. Rin hitched his legs up higher and crossed his ankles behind Ai’s back as he started to move, rolling his hips experimentally. Rin decided he really liked Ai looking like this, mouth open and panting and eyes shut, his hair sticking to his forehead in places and ruffled up in others. 

 

Rin clung to Ai’s back as he finally started moving faster, bending down to continue kissing and sucking at Rin’s chest. _“Yes,”_ Rin groaned, drawing the word out, and he felt Ai moan more than heard him. Ai was quieter than he’d expected (not that he’d been _expecting_ anything, because he definitely _had not_ been fantasizing about what Ai sounded like when he got off). 

 

Rin was not quiet. He moaned and whined and tried to hush himself because he wanted to hear all the little noises Ai was making, especially the breathless whispers of his name, but it was harder than he imagined. Normally, he tried hard to shut himself up during sex, because it wasn’t manly to beg, but now... 

 

Well, he was pretty sure their next-door neighbors were going to be giving them some strange looks in the morning. 

 

“Ai!” Rin yelped when he managed to get the angle perfect and Rin’s legs tightened around his hips, like he was trying to haul him closer. 

 

“ _Rin_ ,” Ai said in response, thrusting forward and peppering Rin’s jaw with kisses. He whined low in the back of his throat. “Rin, I’m close.” 

 

It felt like it hadn’t been long enough (it _hand’t_ been long enough), but Rin was too. He leaned up on one elbow so he could kiss Ai, wrapping his other hand around Ai’s shoulders to pull him close. The kiss was sloppy and mostly teeth, and Rin was pretty sure had some drool running down his chin when they broke apart but he couldn’t find a damn to give because Ai’s hips stuttered as he pulled away and he came, making what Rin was pretty sure was just about the sexiest face anyone could ever make. He even did the lip-biting thing again. 

 

And as if the face wasn’t enough, the long, breathy _“oh, fuck”_ that came with it definitely pushed him over the edge. Rin was pretty sure he yelled Ai’s name loud enough for the entire dorm to know they were doing it. 

 

Five minutes and Ai shakily walking across the room to dispose of the condom later, and Rin was kissing him again. Ai was laying on top of him, and it was lazy and slow, but Rin was clinging a little hard to Ai’s lower back. 

 

“Ai... um...” Rin worked the words out between kisses, “I... I like you.” 

 

Ai chuckled. “I should hope you like me, you just had sex with me.” 

 

Rin let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m trying to... ugh.” 

 

Ai pecked him on the cheek. “Rin? Do you want to go out with me?” 

 

He just buried his burning face into Ai’s neck again, nodding his head and wrapping his arms more tightly around his roommate—his _boyfriend_. Ai laughed brightly and kissed his forehead, and there was this weird buzzing sensation kind of like Rin had just been shocked, but more pleasant. 

 

They fell asleep in Rin’s bed that night, with Ai spread out across his back, one arm thrown over his side and the other underneath his head. Rin couldn’t express how much he liked having a warm body against his back, legs tangling with his, breath on his neck. But he was pretty sure if he did decide to share those feelings, Ai would just break out in that bright smile of his and hug him tightly. 

 

Yeah. 

 

It was definitely the vulnerability. 

 


End file.
